


Arcana

by cyclopsgirl



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Gore, Historical AU, Homophobic Language, I promise kylo will come in soon, M/M, Paranormal, Slow Burn, ghost au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-08-19
Packaged: 2018-08-09 17:23:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7810663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyclopsgirl/pseuds/cyclopsgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"As proof of one's life, there exists the danger of death.<br/>This proof exists as a flame, painfully burning one's life away.<br/>Yet though a life crumbles to dust, time moves ever onward."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Arcana

**Author's Note:**

> so the idea of ghost hux has been something I've wanted to do something for since forever, so I finally sat myself down and wrote my first kylux fic to make it a thing.  
> (there's gore in this chapter not to give anything away)

* * *

 

_New York, New York, 1901. President William McKinley has been assassinated, and his vice president, Theodore Roosevelt is to be sworn in. The country is growing, exceeding 75 million people. A kitchen worker nurses the bastard child between her and the head of the Hux family, Brendol Hux. The child has his mother’s fiery red hair. She names him Armitage._

* * *

 

As Armitage Hux stood still for the camera, he could feel his stepmother glare daggers his way. He wasn’t her son, just a constant reminder of her husband’s infidelity. He was a weak willed boy, thin as a slip of paper and just as useless. He was constantly tortured by his siblings, only to have his stepmother act as if he didn’t exist. The only reason why he was allowed to live with them was to keep his real mother quiet. She begged Brendol to raise Armitage and gave up everything so her son would stay out of the slums she grew up in.

He was turning 13 today, a young man in his father’s eyes, dressed in his best. There were no children at the party, only his older brother and sister, Brendol Jr. and Elizabeth, his stepmother and his father. No one could know the great steel tycoon had a bastard son. His stepmother would die from the embarrassment. She would never be able to step foot outside without being mocked.

Armitage retired to his chambers before anyone else did, just as he normally would. Usually, he would read his father’s military history books until the candle light became too hard to read in. But tonight, it would be different. He snuck down the halls of the lavish townhouse and down the stairs to the servant's chambers. The family only had five servants, one to cook, one to clean, one to aid Brendol, one to aid Armitage’s stepmother and her kids, and one to make sure Armitage stays a secret. His name was Benjamin, and he was the closest thing to a friend Armitage ever had. Every year on his birthday, he would bring Armitage a gift. The gifts were never large nor expensive, but because they were from Benjamin, Armitage loved them. He loved Benjamin. This year, Benjamin gave Armitage a pin with a star on it.

“You should become a general, Armitage.” whispered Benjamin as they listened to the French opera record that played softly. They did this every time they met. Armitage dreamt of the opera and wished nothing more than to one day see a show with Benjamin.

Armitage chuckled and said, “A bastard could never become a general. And besides, mother would never allow me to have that much attention on me.”

“I’m serious though Armitage, you would make an amazing general, you read those military books like it’s your bible!” Armitage felt himself blushing as Benjamin said that. “You may be a bastard, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be anything else!”

“I supposed so.”

* * *

 

Armitage was twenty now. His plans to leave had been pushed back by the steel strike, but with his twentieth birthday came his time to leave. He stayed that night to say goodbye to everyone, to pay his respects to his brother who had died in Europe, and to share one more night with Benjamin.

Armitage had just slipped through the door to the servants quarters when he saw Benjamin turning off the record player. He looked at Armitage and smiled.

“Do you not want to listen to opera then?” Joked Armitage lightly. “Tell me you haven’t started liking that ‘jazz’ garbage now have you?”

Benjamin laughed and took his coat from the back of the chair next to him. He was dressed in his Sunday clothes instead of his uniform tonight, a suit with his grandfather’s pocket watch hanging from the coat pocket. It amazed Armitage how a former slave such as Benjamin’s grandfather could marry a royal like he had.

“No, I just want to give you your gift before we start a record.” He pulled two tickets out from his back pocket and gave them to Armitage. He looked at the tickets as a smile formed on his face. Two tickets to see Rose Ponselle perform tonight. “I know how much you love her, so I used all of my money to buy us tickets. They're not great seats, but-”

Benjamin was cut off by Armitage kissing him on the lips. It was a chaste and sweet close lipped kiss, but it made both of their hearts soar. It was Armitage’s first kiss, and it was with a servant boy. In the back of his mind, Armitage thought that his stepmother would have his head if she ever found out. But for once he didn't care. All he cared about was Benjamin, the one boy who made him feel like he belonged.

When they broke the kiss, Benjamin looked at Armitage like he had two heads.

“Wh-what did you do that for?” asked Benjamin, still keeping Armitage close.

“You’re always so nice to me.” whispered Armitage. “You don’t treat me like a bastard.”

Benjamin sighed and placed a hand on Armitage’s back, rubbing it in small circles like he’s done many times in the past. They stayed that way for a while, none of them moving away from the other. When Benjamin broke away, he noticed how Armitage reluctantly let go.

“We should get going, we don’t want to miss the show.” Benjamin took Armitage’s hand and smiled. Armitage looked around the room and asked,

“Aren’t you afraid of someone finding out?” Benjamin replied with a large, toothy grin and a chuckle.

“They won’t find out, don’t worry so much love.” Armitage found himself blushing at the use of the name. No one had ever called him such a thing, and it coming from Benjamin’s lips made it sound more beautiful than anything. Armitage was in love.

They walked out of the servant’s door in the back together, hand in hand, and walked down the streets to the opera. The stars littered the sky like diamonds, and the moonlight reflected off of the small puddles on the ground. Benjamin talked the entire time, telling Armitage stories of how he got the money for the tickets, his nights out on the town with his other friends, everything. Armitage just held on to his hand tight, still in disbelief that this was happening. He only dreamt of something like this happening.

The show was better than Armitage could have ever dreamt of. The opera house was just as stunning as he had hoped. The red velvet carpets and the gold trimmed ceilings made the whole place feel like a dream, the glass chandeliers hanging above them like stars. No one knew that Armitage was a bastard, they only saw him as a fine young gentleman and his escort. He felt like Rose Ponselle was singing directly to him, even if they were all the way in the back, hidden behind heads of other wealthy men and women.

They walked back together, hand in hand, down the paved sidewalk as all of the Model T’s drove by.

* * *

 

When they reached the Hux’s family townhouse, they both noticed that the light in the parlor was still on. Benjamin snuck Armitage back into the house through the servant’s quarters, and left him with a kiss on the cheek.

“Until morning, love.” Whispered Benjamin, his lips ghosting Armitage’s ears in a way that sent shivers up his spine. Armitage nodded and turned to sneak up to his room, where he could dream of a life with his love.

As Armitage passed the parlor, he saw that his stepmother was still up. Her once blonde, now greying hair resting on her shoulders that no woman of her standing would ever be caught dead sporting. After staring at the fire burning in front of her, she turned to look at her husband’s bastard. She said nothing. Armitage wanted to look away, to run to his room like a child would, despite his age. He always felt that he should stay away from her, more so than her hellish children. But, he stayed put. His stepmother sighed and looked back to the fire, as if she lost some unspoken battle.

Armitage hurried up the stairs and into his room.

It wasn’t until much later, when Armitage was getting ready for bed, that there was a knock on his door. He opened it and saw that it was his stepmother again. She looked at him with a cold stare, the same stare she’s given him for as long as he can remember. She then moved into the room, saying nothing, acting as if Armitage never existed. After she looked around the small room, she finally spoke.

“I saw you coming home from someplace with that servant boy earlier.”

Armitage’s heart stopped.

“What would everyone say if they found out? What wouldn’t they say?” She began to ramble as she slowly pulled something from the pocket inside her robe. “I would never be able to show my face again. Yes, it’s not unheard of for a lady to have a cheating husband, but for her to raise her husband’s bastard? That alone would make me a laughingstock!” She turned to face Armitage.

He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He needed to leave. He needed to leave now.

But there was no where to go. His stepmother stood in the way.

“And not only that, but if they found out you were out with that servant boy,” There were tears in her eyes as she finished. “If they found out you were a filthy faggot!”

In an instant, she pointed a large knife at Armitage. Her eyes, filling to the brim with tears, hid what Armitage knew was a long, deep standing desire to kill him, to get rid of the embarrassment that was Armitage Hux.

“I have to do this boy.” She was hysterical now, her whole body shaking as she held the knife up to Armitage’s chest. “You should have never come into our lives! It should have been just me and my family! Not you!”

Before Armitage could say anything, anything that might have calmed her, he felt the sharp sting of the knife going through his heart. Even as it broke through the skin, she kept pushing it in, deeper and deeper, until it was fully sheathed in his chest. Just as soon as the blade went through his chest, blood began to pool around the knife. Quickly, Armitage’s white night shirt turned a crimson red. She began to twist the blade as Armitage began to cough up blood. His vision was blurring and he could barely hear what his stepmother was saying now. All he could feel was the knife turning slowly. She wanted to make sure he was dead.

She then took the knife out and let Armitage fall to the floor, his blood pooling around him.

The last thing he saw was his stepmother looking down at him, her lace nightgown now stained red with a bastard’s blood.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me at sailorspencer.tumblr.com!


End file.
